14 November 2007, 14:29
Kabardino-Balkaria: court rules the decision to bury militants to be illegal
In Kabardino-Balkaria, the Nalchik City Court has ruled that the statement of Yu. A. Savrulin, inspector for especially important cases of the Central Department of the State Office of Public Prosecutor of the Russian Federation for the South Federal District (SFD), instructing to bury the persons killed in the process of suppressing an act of terror, to be illegal and unjustified.
A complaint on the illegality of his statement was lodged by the relatives of the militants who perished in Nalchik on October 13, 2005. They justified their arguments by the fact that although under the legislation the bodies of murdered militants accused of terrorism shall not be given out to relatives and their burial place shall not be disclosed, the law, however, does not forbid informing about the fact of burial, the date and form thereof. All these facts should be presented in the certificate to be drawn up by specialized services and attached to the files of the criminal case.
Besides, the complaint runs, the Statement of the Constitutional court of the Russian Federation of July 28, 2007, obliged the state bodies and officials to take measures in order to hold burials with observance of the existing customs and traditions.
Author: Luiza Orazayeva, CK correspondent
